Dr. Robert Veninga Speaks at Cultural Event

Posted by cservaes on July 23, 2013 in "Academic Programs", Alumni, Community, "Current Students"This year’s Hostetter-DeFries Family Endowed Cultural Event featured Dr. Robert L. Veninga, award-winning author and professor emeritus of the University of Minnesota. Veninga was on campus February 6 and 7 to give two presentations: “Bouncing Back: The Remarkable Attribute Called Resilience!” on Wednesday and “Which Wolf are You Feeding? Lessons on Fear, Folly and Faith” on Thursday. “Attitude is absolutely everything,” said Veninga in his Thursday presentation. “Most people live by the 25 percent rule. ‘If I had 25 percent more fame, I’d be happy. Or if I had 25 more money . . . better friends . . . bigger house, I’d be happy.’ But it’s much better to live by the one percent rule, which is this – if every morning of my life I can change my attitude by just millimeters, all of a sudden the day opens up. Attitude changes everything.” Dr. Veninga’s presentations can be viewed in their entirety at http://new.livestream.com/TheOttawaU. Veninga is the author of four critically acclaimed books and more than 100 articles appearing in scientific and professional literature. His research focuses on resiliency and has been featured on the Today Show and cited in Time, Corporate Reports, Readers Digest and other prominent publications. He is a member of the Teacher’s Hall of Fame at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the rank of Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Health. Dr. Veninga’s visit was funded by the Hostetter-DeFries Family Endowed Cultural Fund, which was established in 1999 by Ottawa University alumna Alice Jo (Hostetter) DeFries. The goal of the fund and annual cultural event is to host guest speakers who have contributed significantly to the social, artistic and cultural improvement of society.